FALLBROOK: Court unseals search warrants in Marine wife's slaying

TERI FIGUEROA tfigueroa@nctimes.com

500b4ff8c8554.hires

500b4fd55c481.hires

500b4fe87f6a4.preview-1024

500b4ff7a943b.hires

A "sex dungeon," an apparent suicide note, cellphone records and a smattering of DNA are among the evidence investigators said tied three Fallbrook roommates to the April disappearance and slaying of Marine wife Brittany Killgore.

Affidavits for search warrants unsealed Wednesday ---- in the face of opposition from prosecutors, defense attorneys and Killgore's family ----detail the hours before and the days after Killgore, 22, went missing from her Fallbrook apartment.

In the affidavits, investigators said that the trio of defendants was involved in sex practices that centered on dominance and submission, and may have been part of the motive behind the attack on Killgore.

Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Perez, 45, and co-defendants Dorothy Maraglino, 37, and Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, have each
pleaded not guilty
to murder charges in the death of Killgore, whose nude
body was found
dumped alongside a rural road in Southwest Riverside County on April 17.

Each of the suspects faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted. The trio is due back in court for a preliminary hearing in mid-August.

Two days after Killgore's body was found, one investigator wrote that he suspected that the "unusual sexual fetishes" of the defendants were part of the reason why they attacked Killgore.

The affidavits offer no indication that Killgore herself was involved in the alternative lifestyle. Prosecutor Patrick Espinoza has said Killgore was
"an innocent victim,
" lured to her death in a plot hatched because Maraglino didn't like her.

Reached Wednesday, Maraglino's attorney said his client "had no advance knowledge of the killing of Ms. Killgore."

"The information as it relates to the affidavits is very speculative and opinion, and is not facts," Maraglino's attorney, Sean Leslie said. "Anything concerning my client is conjecture and speculation."

Neither Perez's or Lopez's attorneys responded to a request for comment.

Perez lived with Lopez and Maraglino in Maraglino's pale yellow house on East Fallbrook Street, about a block from one of the small town's main commercial corridors.

Investigators said in court documents that they believe Killgore was killed in the run-down Fallbrook residence.

'Sex dungeon'

Inside that home, investigators said, they found a "sex dungeon" ---- containing several sex toys, tools and apparatuses.

Investigators said that an ex-girlfriend of Perez told them that she and Perez "engaged in sexual activities that included bondage, whipping, spanking and cutting."

And on one occasion, a woman was held in the sex dungeon, and not allowed to leave without permission from Perez or Maraglino, according to what investigators said the ex-girlfriend told them. The affidavit does not indicate whether the woman was willingly in the sex dungeon.

A profile on a sex fetish website features a photo that appears to be of Perez and Maraglino. It stated that Perez called himself "Ivan" and referred to himself as "Lord & Master, Dom & Daddy of My house." Maraglino was described as his "slave" and "mistress."

"We are an energetic, professional, creative couple," according to the profile, in which he said the couple were seeking a submissive or submissive couple to join their home.

Suicide note leads to body

Investigators said they found Killgore's body April 17, hours after finding a dazed and bloody Lopez in a Point Loma motel room, where she apparently had tried to commit suicide.

In the room, investigators also found a seven-page letter ---- an apparent suicide note ---- telling them where to find Killgore's body. The note included a detailed confession to Killgore's murder, and was signed with Lopez's name and aliases.

Some of the note ---- including descriptions of strangulation and attempts at dismemberment ---- corresponded to findings from Killgore's autopsy, according to the affidavits.

The note said Killgore had come to the defendant's Fallbrook home about 11:30 p.m. on April 13, and that Lopez confronted and killed her in a jealous rage.

Cellphone records from that evening, a Friday, place Killgore and Perez in the vicinity of Perez's Fallbrook home ---- although investigators said Perez told them he was with Killgore in San Diego, and returned home alone after they got separated in crowds in the Gaslamp District.

Prosecutor Espinoza has said in court that Perez had duped Killgore into getting in his car with a dinner cruise invitation, but picked her up too late to make it to the boat.

According to the affidavits, about 13 minutes after Perez picked her up, Killgore sent a text to a friend. It simply read "help."

About 20 minutes after that, Perez texted Maraglino ---- who was at a grocery store with Lopez ---- and asked her to come home.

Perez quickly a suspect

A friend
reported Killgore missing
the following day, a Saturday. Investigators zeroed in on Perez as the last person to have been spotted with Killgore, and soon searched his muddy white Ford Explorer.

That search turned up latex gloves and a stun baton in a plastic bag inside of the vehicle, according to court documents.

Killgore's blood was on the bag and the gloves, and Perez's DNA was on the stun baton, investigator Norman Hubbert wrote in one search warrant affidavit.

Hubbert also indicated a slip cover from the front passenger's seat might have been removed.

Perez and girlfriend Maraglino gave conflicting statements to investigators. In the affidavits, investigators report that Maraglino said Perez never left their home Saturday, while Perez said he ran errands and collected firewood ---- which, he said, was why his vehicle was so muddy.

Prosecutor Espinoza, whose office fought release of the documents, said "this is an open case and we won't be commenting on the evidence or the investigation."

In late June, Superior Court Judge Runstin G. Maino ordered four of at least 22 search warrants in the case unsealed in response to legal action taken by area news outlets, including the North County Times. Prosecutors appealed, but on Wednesday the 4th District Court of Appeal greenlighted their release.

Three days before she went missing, Killgore filed for divorce from her estranged husband, Marine Lance Cpl. Cory Killgore, while he was deployed in Afghanistan, according to court records. Investigators have said he is not a suspect in his wife's death.

She had packed up her home and was ready to move out of the state when she was killed.